


Winners and Losers

by reeby10



Category: Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Pre-Jurassic World (2015)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: Ellie saw the article by chance, a small headline stuck under news of some corporate merger. Her blood ran cold as soon as she opened it and realized that her first instinctual fear upon reading the phrase “Jurassic Park Successor” was all too valid.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 18
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Winners and Losers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kultiras](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kultiras/gifts).



> **ETA:** minor changes made 2/15/21

Ellie saw the article by chance, a small headline stuck under news of some corporate merger. Her blood ran cold as soon as she opened it and realized that her first instinctual fear upon reading the phrase “Jurassic Park Successor” was all too valid.

An hour later, she’d gone on a full internet spiral, that first article leading to another and another, leading to corporate portfolios and redacted research publishings and employee bios. Every click took her deeper and deeper into the life of InGen and its subsidiaries in the past years. She’d hoped, obviously naively, that what had happened on the islands back then wouldn’t be repeated yet again.

It was getting late by the time Ellie collated her notes from what she’d found out online, but she knew she needed to make some calls sooner rather than later. They’d take her calls no matter how late it was where they were, though, she was sure.

Alan answered on the fourth ring, voice groggy from sleep. “Ellie? What’s wrong?”

Usually she would have been annoyed about him assuming something was wrong when she called, but usually she wouldn’t be calling when she knew he’d be asleep either. Plus, he certainly wasn’t incorrect this time. Unfortunately.

“They’re building another park.”

She heard a thump and wondered if he’d knocked something over or if maybe she’d startled him straight out of bed. A smile quirked at her lips despite the worry still gripping her tight. Things weren’t life threatening yet at least, so she still had a little time to laugh while she could.

“Didn’t they see what a bad idea that was after everything last time?” Alan demanded, obviously incensed. Ellie could hear more movement, shuffling and the slam of a door. “Idiots. Power hungry, money blinded idiots. How soon is it supposed to open?”

“They haven’t said yet other than summer, but that means just a few months at most.” She took a deep breath, grip tightening on her phone. “It’s on the same island as the first one and everything. Alan, they have to have been planning this for _years_.”

He sighed, deep and exhausted, and she remembered that for all the nightmares she still had about the island, he’d been out there twice. “I know. Have you called Ian?”

Speaking of twice…

“No, not yet,” she replied. “I was planning to call him after you. He’ll react better if we already have a plan.”

Alan let out a huff of breath that she took as agreement. “Well, I guess we need a plan then.”

⁂

It felt like Ellie had barely slept the past few days. And really, she hadn’t. She hadn’t had time to. After calling Alan and talking for almost two hours, she’d called Ian and talked for another half an hour. And after that had come even more research and call after call with the two of them and anyone else she could get in contact with from the original park.

But they’d come up with a plan, or at least enough of one for now. The rest of it would hopefully come together once they met up in person. Which — Ellie glanced at her watch — would be happening any minute now.

The bell over the door of the cafe rang and she turned her head to see Alan coming in, Ian just a step behind. They must have run into each other in the parking lot. She smiled, waving a little when they caught sight of her at her table tucked away in the back.

“Good to see you, Ellie,” Alan said into her hair as they hugged, grip just a little tighter around each other than it normally was when they met up.

“You too. I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Wouldn’t we all,” Ian replied. He hugged her just as tightly.

The three of them settled back at the table with cups of coffee and it was silent for several long moments. None of them seemed to know what to say. Seeing each other in person like this was a harsh reminder, to Ellie at least, that the horrors they’d gone through on the island might just be repeating.

“Well, not that I don’t enjoy just sitting with you two,” Ian said, finally breaking the silence with his usual wry tone, “but we need to talk about the new park.”

“Have you found anything new, Ellie?” Alan asked. “I know there wasn’t much when you called us, which tells me they’re trying to slide under the radar.”

"They've got Henry Wu heading up development," Ellie said immediately, lip curling up despite herself. She’d been trying to be calm about this, but it was hard. "Again."

Ian sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He looked as tired as Ellie felt. "I'd like to be surprised by how little they care about the destruction they created the last time, but unfortunately I'm not."

Alan and Ellie both nodded. It was hard not to feel bitter about it. The original park had been bad, had included many faults that had been exploited in full and which had led to the deaths of far too many people. If they'd learned from that or from when Ian went back or from when Alan went to the other island...

Well, they obviously hadn't. All they'd learned was that living dinosaurs brought in money and attention, no matter the dangers they posed. And it would probably be even more dangerous this time. They were thinking bigger and technology had advanced a lot in the past fifteen years.

"Whatever he's creating this time will be bigger and deadlier," Alan said, obviously thinking the same way Ellie was. "They're not going to drop him, and it probably wouldn't do much good at this point anyway. So what are we going to do to try to stop it all?"

“Whatever we can,” Ellie replied, gritting her teeth against a sick feeling of despair. “We can’t let it happen again.”

Ian reached out to take her hand, squeezing it tightly. She wasn’t sure if it was for her comfort or his, but she appreciated it either way. “I’ve got a lawyer friend on standby,” he said. “I don’t think any of the old ones from last time are still around, but she’s good.”

“No doubt they’ve got their own lawyers ready too,” Alan replied with a frown. He shook his head. “InGen was always good about that side of things. But it’s worth a try.”

“I know a few journalists who can get some publicity on things too, one that’s already working on a story since I talked to her.”

Not that that was likely to do much good either. Dinosaurs were good for publicity, and as experience showed, even or especially so when they were dangerous. Last time that had made things very difficult to deal with, and Ellie had no doubt it would this time as well.

But just like she said, they’d do whatever they could.

⁂

Eight months later, just barely later than the original opening date Ellie had figured on, Jurassic World opened. Alan and Ian sat in her living room on either side of her on the couch, their hands all clasped tightly together. The tv showed a special about the opening, live from the island as the first guests arrived.

They’d brought several suits against the park with the help of Ian’s lawyer friend, and Ellie’s journalist friend had published a scathing op ed just three months ago. But just as she’d feared — hoping, of course, that she’d be proven wrong — none of it had done any good.

InGen was too big, had too much power, knew too much about bending public opinion and international laws to its will. It shouldn’t have been a surprise after everything they’d been through after the island the first time, but it was still disappointing. Heartbreaking, even, because Ellie knew with every fiber of her being that people would die.

“We did what we could,” Alan murmured as the crowd on screen cheered as a huge ribbon was cut and the park was officially open to the public.

“What we could wasn’t enough, apparently,” Ian replied, bitterness darkening his voice in a way Ellie hadn’t heard before. She squeezed his hand. “They won.”

They watched for a few more minutes in tight silence. The excitement from those on the tv only made Ellie feel worse about having been able to do, in the end, nothing to prevent the tragedy that would come sooner or later. It seemed everyone else had really forgotten the horror of those days.

Still, she refused to completely give into despair. They couldn’t just roll over and give up, no matter how much of a failure it felt right now. They were the historians of Jurassic Park, and one day someone would need to deal with their expertise for the fallout.

Ellie squeezed both Alan and Ian’s hands once more, then let them go to reach for the remote and turn the tv off. “They may have won for now, but we still have to fight. We owe it to ourselves, if not them.”

Alan nodded while Ian grinned a little crookedly, just like she always pictured him doing when they were away from each other.

“Well,” Ian said, “I guess we need to get to work again then.”


End file.
